When All is Said and Done
by Puddycat
Summary: What if the battle with Father hadn't gone so well?
1. Chapter 1

This is essentially a rewrite of "All the Clouds in a Sunny Sky", only way better ('cause that one was pretty shit, and it got abandoned for being pretty shit...) It's based mainly in the Brotherhood/manga version, with a few little bits from the first anime like the Tringhams (unless they're in the manga, in which case ignore me). Don't worry if you're confused here - the characters don't know what's going on either.

It starts right at the end of the final battle with Father.

Disclaimer - I'm not Japanese, and my self-portrait is not a really awesome cow. So no, I'm not Arakawa-sensei, but I do borrow her characters for abuse in non-profit products of boredom such as this.

* * *

**Prelude**

Dust was still falling when Roy opened his eyes. They ached, and his hands felt stiff when he tried clenching and unclenching his fists. Nearby a chunk of wall collapsed with a crash, and he heard people moving and speaking. A bird was singing in the distance. He sat up and stared around him – why could he see? – and saw destruction. Bodies surrounded him; most were breathing, but a lot weren't. Almost all were bloody. A hand touched his shoulder.

"Colonel?" It was Hawkeye. "Colonel, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He looked at her. "Completely fine. Don't know why, but under the circumstances I'm not going to complain."

Her eyes softened, and Roy pushed himself to his feet. He stood still for a moment and waited for the headrush to pass before walking around to check on the soldiers. Armstrong was sitting on the ground next to his sister, and both were staring around at the devastation without moving. They both looked exhausted.

"Are you okay?" Roy asked.

"Was that you?" Armstrong pointed behind Roy.

Roy turned. A transmutation circle had been scorched into the ground, and there was a rapidly-congealing pool of blood in the centre. He approached it slowly.

"No," he said. "It wasn't me."

As he got closer the hairs on his arms and the back of his neck rose with the alchemy in the air.

Hohenheim was standing nearby. He looked tired, and years older than he had just minutes ago. "Whatever this was, it was powerful."

"Any ideas?" Roy asked.

Hohenheim shook his head. The relative quiet was shattered by Mei screaming. Roy turned and sprinted over, along with anyone else who was still able to move well. She was kneeling next to Alphonse's broken armour and clutching at something inside. As Roy got closer he saw a boy, barely more than a skeleton, unconscious and lying inside the remains of the armour. He was wrapped in Fullmetal's distinctive red coat. Roy turned in a circle, his eyes searching through the crowd of people.

"Can anyone see Fullmetal?" he shouted. "Does anyone have eyes on him?"

A murmur spread across the broken battlefield; Roy could see people shaking their heads and craning their necks to look around, but no-one spoke up. Slowly, he turned towards the blood-stained transmutation circle.

"What did you do?" he whispered.

* * *

My history with regular updates prevents me from promising a next chapter by a specific date, so I'll just say subscribe and be pleasantly surprised when it appears...


	2. Chapter 2

Yeah, this story's interesting me so I'm working on it quite a bit. Hopefully I'll be able to update at least once a month, if not quicker. A few more of the original anime/CoS influences show here, but they're really minor - just a couple of useful bits I decided to steal and adapt for the purposes of plot advancement...

I noticed one or two people have put "All the Clouds" on alert since the first chap of this went up with the note about it being a new version; just to let you know Clouds won't be updated so there's no point in subbing to it. It's officially dead and abandoned. RIP.

* * *

Alphonse woke up terrified. Roy had to grab the boy's head with both hands and force him to stay still and look him in the eyes before the younger Elric would calm down. His breathing was fast and rough and he was sobbing as he choked in breaths.

"Where's Ed?" he asked. "Where is he?"

"We couldn't find him."

Alphonse screamed. He screamed and thrashed about until all the artificial strength of the adrenaline had worn out and he was left with nothing. He couldn't move or make a sound. The world was overloading him with touches and smells and all he could do was cry into the chest of the man holding him tight.

Roy stared out the window and cursed Edward with everything he had.

(-)

Alphonse's recovery was slow. It was months before he could keep down a decent portion of food and even longer before he could walk. After the initial rush from waking up, the severity of his body's atrophied state hit him hard and he could barely move at all for the first week. Once he began taking small steps using a support frame, Roy moved him into the ground floor of his townhouse – "until you're well enough for the journey home".

Each morning Roy would leave and not return until well into the evening, and Alphonse spent hours alone with his thoughts again. It would have been easy to just sit and dwell, but he knew he couldn't. He didn't know exactly what Edward had done to get his body back – no-one did – but he couldn't let it be in vain. To start with he could barely manage one full walking lap around the small rear garden without taking a break; after a few weeks he could walk around it at least five times before he even started to grow tired. He would bring a book out into the garden with him and each time he needed a break from walking he would sit in the shade and read a chapter before getting up and starting again. Once he began to feel more in control of his body he started practicing some of the exercises Izumi had given them when they first went to her. His muscles protested, and in the mornings of the first few weeks he ached almost too much to move, but he felt himself growing stronger by the day. Havoc had told him while he was in hospital that he looked too much like a corpse, and that he wouldn't come to visit until Alphonse looked like a living person again. He kept that promise, and only came to see him once he'd been out of the hospital for almost two months.

"See, now you just look really skinny," Havoc said, "and not like you're about to drop. This I can cope with."

As Alphonse grew healthier, he began to speak about his plans. Roy always looked tired these days, but he never dismissed Alphonse or told him he had more important things to worry about and Alphonse was soon looking forward to their nightly chats. If Roy heard any new reports about anything even slightly related to the homunculi and Father, he never kept it from Alphonse – not even when news came from Risembool that Hohenheim had been found dead in front of Trisha's grave. The boy knew everything he knew.

Then one day, the letters came.

An envelope addressed to Alphonse was slipped through the door; inside it were another two envelopes and a note. One of the inner envelopes was addressed to Alphonse, the other to Roy. The note with them was short.

_Hey Al,_

_Long time no see. Your brother asked us to get these to you if we didn't hear from him by mid-August, but it took us a while to find out where you were. We don't know what these say or even what's happened since we last saw you guys, but we've been hearing rumours and we hope you're okay._

_Let us know how you're doing, yeah?_

_Russell & Fletcher Tringham_

_AKA The _other_ Elric brothers._

Alphonse tore open the second envelope, in his haste almost ripping the paper within. It was Edward's handwriting.

_Al,_

_You know how you're always telling me not to do stupid stuff? If you're reading this it's because I outdid myself this time. But I don't regret it at all. If I'm right about how much the transmutation will cost, some of your memories might be missing so I'll try and fill you in. I can't tell you everything, since it hasn't happened yet and I don't know what might be missing, but I'll try._

_It turns out Rose has a pretty awesome skill – when she touches someone, she can see some of the major stuff that has happened and will happen to them. She never told us before 'cause apparently it freaks people out, but I met her briefly while we were separated and she saw something she thought I should know. Each time she touched me, all she saw was us fighting Father with a bunch of the military backing us up (makes a change, huh?). Loads of different versions, but… Well, according to her I only walk away from it in one version. One version out of fifty. Figure I'd best try and make a plan, right?_

_The last thing I want is you stuck in that armour with no way out, or with the only way out to be scratching your own blood seal. There's no way I'd ever put you through that. So I've been thinking._

_I have this idea, see, and I've had it for a while but it's always seemed too dangerous to actually try. That Father guy doesn't have an actual body – he's just energy in a can – so if I'm right, I can use that energy to pull your body back from the gate. Only thing is, if I'm going to pull this off I'll have to get stupidly close to him. You see where this is going, right? I'm giving this to Russell Tringham to pass on so you'll have at least some answers if the worst happens. Although I guess "worst" is relative, given what Father's trying to do._

_If I could do this any other way I would, but to be honest I haven't seen a way of getting your body back without doing something extreme for a while. We both know the Philosopher's Stone isn't an option any more, and there's no way I'm putting anyone else in danger to repair my mistake. You won't be alone, though – you know that, right? No matter how sad or scared or angry you get you've got Winry, and Granny, and Teacher, and Mustang's crew, and loads of other people to watch out for you. I wish I could be there for you too, more than anything, but…_

_Look, just promise me you'll be happy, yeah? It's all worth it if you're happy._

_I love you._

_Ed._


	3. Chapter 3

According to the save info on my computer, I finished this in November and then forgot about it. Oops...

* * *

Alphonse was sitting on the sofa, staring off into space when Roy got back. The house had grown dark, but the boy hadn't bothered getting up to switch even a single light on. Roy took his coat off and frowned as he flicked the light on – Alphonse didn't seem to notice at all, not even flinching when the light hit his eyes. The only move the young Elric made was to hand Roy an envelope.

"What's this?"

The boy shook his head, and Roy saw he had his own letter held tightly in his other hand. The envelope tearing was loud in the quiet room.

_Mustang,_

_So apparently I did it. Made the asshole decision. If things have gone to plan, Al should be back in his body now. Chances are I won't know if it worked or not, so I'm kind of hoping for the best right now, but if things have gone the way I think they will I won't be there to watch out for him anymore. Could you? Please? I know I've asked a lot of you these past few years, but he's my little brother – I can't leave him completely on his own, y'know?_

_Whatever you do, don't _ever_ let him join the military. He doesn't need to go through that on top of everything else._

_Al's letter has everything I know so far about what might happen, so if you want to know you should ask him. He'll probably want to talk about it anyway._

_I'm not good at signing off on this sort of thing, so… Thanks. For everything._

_Ed._

Roy gripped the paper so tight it crumpled and curled around his hand. "When did these come through?"

"They came today." Alphonse's voice was barely more than a whisper. "Apparently Ed gave them to some friends of ours before everything happened, but they couldn't find me for a while. So they came today." There was a pause before Alphonse held out his letter to Roy. "He sounds scared, Colonel."

Roy read through it once quickly then again a little slower, paying attention to each word as he went and sinking down into the armchair. When he looked up, Alphonse still hadn't moved.

"I wish he hadn't done it," the boy whispered. "I could have stayed in the armour."

"No you couldn't," Roy sighed. "We're not blind, Al, you weren't okay in that thing and the link holding your soul was getting weaker. If the link didn't break soon, you would."

"I just want my brother back."

"I know."

(-)

After another couple of weeks Alphonse returned to Risembool. Roy's crew all went to the train station to say goodbye, and he made promises to keep in touch with all of them. A phone call a few months later told them he was going to spend some time with Izumi, but after that there was nothing for a while.

It had been almost a year since they fought Father. Roy and the soldiers fighting with him on the Promised Day were told that their trials for crimes in Ishbal were to be postponed indefinitely due to the work they had put into restructuring the country and rebuilding Ishbal. Roy had wanted to argue against it, to insist that they be tried alongside their peers, but his men reminded him that he was more use to Ishbal untried than behind bars.

Accounts surfaced of soldiers who enjoyed their work during the war in the East. Ones who laughed as they beat children, and others who raped women then beat them a few weeks later to prevent any pregnancies continuing. Other people came forward too in support of Roy and his soldiers. Some were Ishballan, some weren't, but all of them had either seen Roy and his men conduct themselves well when faced with angry Ishballans, or had been told about his plans by a young hot-tempered alchemist. Each time he heard a new report claiming Fullmetal had convinced someone that Roy was a good person, he couldn't decide whether to snort in disbelief or smile. He usually settled for raising an eyebrow and making a crack about Edward being too short to catch people's attention on his own and using Roy's name to do it instead.

A parade was being arranged to mark the anniversary of the Promised Day. Alphonse had been invited as an honorary attendee, but Roy couldn't track him down to let him know. All Winry and Izumi knew was that he left to go traveling a month ago and didn't say where he was going or when he would be back.

"I think he'll end up in Central, though," Winry said, the line crackling as she spoke. "He mentioned something about wanting to study medicine."

"Not again…" Roy muttered.

"Not for that. I'd kill him myself if I thought he was doing it for that. While he was here he kept talking about wanting to help people, and wanted to find out if there was a way to safely use alchemy to heal injuries. A bit like what Mei does? I don't know, they always lose me when they start talking alchemy." There was a pause. "Al does. Al loses me when he talks about alchemy." Her voiced hitched as she spoke.

"Will you let him know about the parade if you speak to him before tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Yeah, of course."

(-)

"You got tall."

Havoc was standing with his arm around Alphonse's shoulders; the boy now came up to just below Havoc's chin, and he looked like he was still growing.

"Sure you didn't shrink?" Alphonse grinned as he greeted the soldier.

The door creaked open and the rest of the soldiers piled into the office, Roy bringing up the rear. They all stood still for a minute before greeting Alphonse as enthusiastically as their dress uniforms would allow. Falman waved from an appropriate distance, Breda slapped his back, Fuery bounced on his toes as he asked how the younger Elric was, and Hawkeye rested her hands on his shoulders and smiled. Roy was last, and used one hand to shake Alphonse's and the other to squeeze his shoulder.

"We've been trying to get hold of you for the last few weeks," Roy said.

"Yeah, I decided to go travelling for a bit. I saw about the parade in the newspaper and kind of assumed I should be here. I wasn't wrong, was I?"

"Not at all. It starts in just under two hours, though. You're supposed to be up on the podium with me and Fuhrer Grumman, but I haven't been told that you need to do anything. Just stand there and try to not look too bored."

Havoc pulled a face. "Good luck."

Alphonse had a suit on, but he still felt underdressed next to the impressive blue uniforms and sashes. It only got worse as they began the walk down to the parade grounds.

"So Winry said you might be staying in Central for a while," Hawkeye said.

"Yeah, I'm going to try and get into the medical school, but I don't know if they'll take me – I kind of stopped going to school when I was six, so I don't have any of the qualifications."

"Your reputation should be enough to get you in."

"If it isn't, I'd be more than happy to write a letter of recommendation," Roy said.

"Thanks."

The parade was quiet and respectful, with Ishballans included in several sections and a short silence towards the end. A baby somewhere in the crowd kept crying, the sound echoing off the surrounding buildings until the silence was over and the shifting and speeches began again. Alphonse's back was aching from standing straight for so long, so when everyone began to file out of the grounds he took the chance to lean against a nearby railing.

It was the same every year after that, with some minor changes. After two years, once the country was almost completely settled, Roy took over as Fuhrer. Occasionally he would ask Alphonse if he wanted to make a speech at the next parade, but the answer was always no – he had too much studying.

The trouble started during the fifth parade.


End file.
